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Arizona's Stone Gettings preparing to hit the court for 2019-20 season

Colorado forward Lucas Siewert, front, pulls in a rebound as Arizona Wildcats center Chase Jeter, back left, and guard Brandon Randolph defend in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. Colorado won 67-60. David Zalubowski/AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

Colorado forward Lucas Siewert, front, pulls in a rebound as Arizona Wildcats center Chase Jeter, back left, and guard Brandon Randolph defend in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. Colorado won 67-60.
David Zalubowski/AP

Arizona head coach Sean Miller directs his team against Colorado in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

Arizona head coach Sean Miller directs his team against Colorado in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo.
David Zalubowski/AP

Arizona forward Ira Lee, back drives to the net for a basket as Colorado forward Lucas Siewert defends in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

Arizona forward Ira Lee, back drives to the net for a basket as Colorado forward Lucas Siewert defends in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo.
David Zalubowski/AP

Colorado guard D'Shawn Schwartz, right, riches up to block a shot by Arizona guard Brandon Randolph, center, as Colorado guard Tyler Bey defends in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

Colorado guard D'Shawn Schwartz, right, riches up to block a shot by Arizona guard Brandon Randolph, center, as Colorado guard Tyler Bey defends in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo.
David Zalubowski/AP

UCLA guard Prince Ali tries to pass the ball after falling while under pressure from Arizona guard Justin Coleman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Los Angeles. Mark J. Terrill, AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

UCLA guard Prince Ali tries to pass the ball after falling while under pressure from Arizona guard Justin Coleman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Los Angeles.
Mark J. Terrill, AP

California's Paris Austin loses the ball during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) Ben Margot, AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

California's Paris Austin loses the ball during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Ben Margot, AP

Photos: Arizona basketball 2018-19 season

Colorado forward Lucas Siewert, front, pulls in a rebound as Arizona Wildcats center Chase Jeter, back left, and guard Brandon Randolph defend in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Boulder, Colo. Colorado won 67-60.

You could trace Stone Gettings’ arrival at Arizona this semester to his Southern California roots, connections with former Wildcats and his late-blooming talent.

But that’s not where it all started. That happened inside the Cornell University financial aid office, one day before Gettings’ junior season as a standout forward for the Big Red.

Gettings had already taken loans to cover $5,000-$10,000 of his required contribution during his first two seasons at the Ivy League school, which does not offer athletic scholarships. He was asked to contribute three times as much for his junior year.

A confused Gettings was told the problem was that his sister had just graduated from George Washington, so his shrinking financial aid package was now based on his family having just one kid to pay for instead of two.

Gettings said his sister had been on a full rowing scholarship, so nothing ever changed in his ability to pay.

“They weren’t too sympathetic,” he said.

But as his junior year went on, Gettings realized he was far enough along toward his degree in applied economics and management that he could graduate in three-and-a-half years.

At the same time, despite having no athletic scholarship offers out of Los Angeles’ Loyola High School in 2015, Gettings’ basketball ability had appreciated to a high-major level.

Suddenly, Gettings realized he wouldn’t have to pay for school at all anymore. Basketball could.

“It really became a burden when the amount changed and I had to start looking into it,” Gettings said. “But I think it was a blessing in disguise.”

Gettings decided he would sit out this season as a transfer, finish his Cornell degree in December and move on. Because he would graduate, he wouldn’t have to satisfy the NCAA’s year-in-residence requirement before playing, and could thus play part of this season or all of next season.

Gettings just had to figure out where to go next. He sought advice from a number of sources, including former coaches and ex-teammates such as Parker Jackson-Cartwright, the former UA point guard who played with Gettings at Loyola.

“Everybody just raved about the program here,” Gettings said. “It just seemed like a no-brainer to come here.”

Transfer Stone Gettings watches his new team take warmup drills. He plans to practice the rest of this season and play in 2019-20 for UA.(Photo11: Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star)

So once the Wildcats bit on his recruitment, Gettings called UA coaches often to do some direct research on his own before closing the deal.

This is a guy, after all, who earned a business degree from an Ivy League school.

“I tend to overthink situations, so I was really thorough,” Gettings said. “I reached out to former players a lot, talked to coach (Sean) Miller a lot as well as coach (Danny) Peters. Probably bothered the hell out of them with how much I called, but I wanted to make sure I got all the information possible.”

Loyola coach Jamal Adams said Gettings had a “number of high-major options” at which to play a season and pursue a graduate degree, including Vanderbilt and Stanford.

But while Gettings has aspirations of one day getting an MBA and then opening a wealth-management firm, he knew his graduate degree effectively was also going to be in basketball.

So he chose UA for the chance to get a master’s degree in accounting … and play some high-level ball.

“I was like, ‘If you’re going to take this leap and have the best basketball experience to help you get to where you can make money playing the game (professionally), it’s hard to beat Arizona,’” Adams said.

Gettings has been with the Wildcats for nearly a month now. He plans to practice the rest of this season and play in 2019-20.

Neither Miller nor Gettings has pushed for him to play his season, because Gettings said it would be too hard to pick up a new system and be effective. But the Wildcats have already incorporated Gettings fully into practices and scout-team activities, where he can mimic upcoming opponents.

“We’re excited about being able to add him to what we do,” Miller said earlier this month. “He’s a very skilled player. He can shoot the ball. … He also loves the game.

“It’s fun to coach guys who love the game because they’re always working and they’re always trying to get better. I think Stone is that type of kid.”

A second-team all-Ivy pick last season, when he averaged 16.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, Gettings said he hopes to play a versatile post role that can include shooting on the wing, scoring inside and setting up teammates in something of a “point forward” role as he did last season.

Gettings had an unusually high assist rate for a big man last season, getting the assist 24.2 percent of the time when he was on the court and his teammates scored.

“I facilitated a lot at Cornell and I think that will carry over here,” Gettings said. “Overall, I think it will just be kind of using me as a matchup problem because I can shoot and really stretch the floor or if they want to go small, I have the ability to bang down low with the other team’s five man.”

It wasn’t that long ago that Gettings could have hardly imagined doing any of that at a high-major college level. Or even the high school level.

Gettings entered Loyola High School as 5-foot-9-inch surfer from Malibu who also had interest in football, basketball and water polo. Along the way, he struck up a close friendship with Jerod Adams, son of Loyola varsity basketball coach Jamal Adams. It’s a relationship that may have preserved his basketball career.

“He played freshman basketball and was a pretty good player on that team, but he honestly came to a crossroads,” Jamal Adams said. “He thought about water polo and giving up basketball. We talked about it and I suggested he stick with it.”

He grew to 6-4 as a sophomore. By his junior season, Gettings made the varsity while becoming a 6-8 stretch forward. He described himself as a “role player” on that talented team, but Adams said he was more than that.

Cornell's Stone Gettings, right, looks to pass the ball under pressure from Syracuse's Oshae Brissett, left, in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Syracuse, N.Y., Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Nick Lisi)(Photo11: Nick Lisi, AP)

“At 6-8, he could stretch defenses and he was a great screener,” Adams said. “He and Parker were devastating on the pick-and-roll. And he was so damn smart with the things we wanted to do defensively.

“I think Stone’s biggest strength is between his ears. He’s a worldly kind of guy. He’s got a great grasp of technology. He’s a great friend of my son and kind of a man of the people. I think he’s very adaptable.”

Gettings averaged 15 points and 10.9 rebounds as a senior while taking Loyola deep into the playoffs, but still attracted little interest at the high-major college level.

Gettings said he had offers to walk on at Cal and Stanford, an initial possibility at Columbia and a firm one at Cornell.

So Cornell it was.

Gettings averaged 9.5 minutes a game as a freshman and bloomed into a standout as a sophomore, averaging 12.4 points. As a junior last season, he was all over the Ivy League stat leaderboards, finishing sixth in scoring, third in rebounding and ninth in assists, while his 82.5 percent mark at the line was the league’s 10th best free-throw percentage.

Outlook: Arizona (14-5, 5-1) bounced back from its loss to Oregon with an 82-71 win over Oregon State on Saturday. It made 13 of 27 tries from long distance and had 28 second-chance points in that win. Freshman G Brandon Williams (11.9 ppg) led the effort with 20 points. Junior C Chase Jeter left that game early after a hard fall in which he injured his back. Earlier this week, coach Sean Miller told the media he didn't think the injury was serious and indicated he thought Jeter would be able to go this week. Ryan Luther turned in a solid effort with 16 points and a season-high 11 rebounds, moving into the starting lineup for Emmanuel Akot, who left the team. Arizona sits second in the Pac-12 just behind Washington (14-4, 5-0). ... USC (10-8, 3-2) is lacking depth, particularly at the guard position. Junior Charles O'Bannon (hand) is out for the season, Kevin Porter (10.7 ppg) is indefinitely suspended and another guard, Jordan Usher, left the team. The Trojans have gotten stellar play out of junior F Nick Rakocevic (15.2 ppg, 9.7 rpg), this week's Pac-12 Player of the Week. Rakocevic scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in USC's 80-67 home win over UCLA. He made 75 percent of his shots (9-for-12) and matched a career high with four assists. It was his eighth double-double of the season and 13th of his career. Senior F Bennie Boatwright (17.3 ppg 6.4 rpg) is the team's leading scorer and one of four averaging double figures.

Projected Arizona lineup

G Brandon Randolph, 6-6, Soph.

G Justin Coleman, 5-10, Sr.

C Chase Jeter, 6-10, Jr.

G Brandon Williams, 6-2, Fr.

F Ryan Luther, 6-9, Sr.

Projected USC lineup

G Jonah Mathews, 6-3, Jr..

G Shaqquan Aaron, 6-7, Sr.

G Derryck Thornton, 6-3, Jr.

F Bennie Boatwright, 6-10, Sr.

F Nick Rakocevic, 6-11,Jr.

Injury report: USC junior G Charles O'Bannon (finger) is out for the season. . . Arizona junior C Chase Jeter left Saturday's game early with a back injury but is expected to play.